ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia Woyanne and Uganda on Saturday denied accusations by a U.N. weapons sanctions committee that their soldiers broke the world body’s arms embargo on Somalia.
The United Nations says the Horn of Africa nation is awash with weapons despite a 1992 arms ban that followed the collapse of the central government a year before. Somalia has been engulfed in civil conflict ever since.
Dumisani Kumalo, chairman of the U.N. Security Council’s Somalia sanctions committee, accused “elements” of the African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in Somalia and Ethiopian Woyanne and Somali government troops of arms trafficking.
“We want to assure the world community that this accusation does not have an iota of truth,” Wahade Belay, spokesman for the Ethiopian Woyanne Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Reuters.
“In fact our troops were and still are playing an exemplary role in mitigating the arms trade inside Somalia,” he said.
Kumalo said 80 percent of the ammunition on sale in Somalia’s numerous arms markets comes from Ethiopian Woyanne and Somali troops.
Ethiopia Woyanne sent thousands of soldiers into Somalia in late 2006 to help the Somali government oust an Islamic Courts movement from the south. Since then, the two allies have battled an insurgency led by members of the Islamists.
Kumalo said the presence of Ethiopian Woyanne troops inside Somalia was itself a violation of the 16-year-old arms ban.
The sanctions committee report comes as the world body unanimously adopted a measure for a stronger U.N. presence in Somalia and opened the door for a possible U.N. force.
A 2,200-strong AU peacekeeping contingent, known as AMISOM, has been unable to stem the mounting violence.
Uganda, which has 1,600 troops in Mogadishu, joined Ethiopia Woyanne in condemning the sanctions committee’s accusations.
“I can assert that none of the AMISOM commanders is involved in any form of arms trafficking in contravention of the U.N. arms embargo,” said Captain Barigye Bahouku, spokesman for the mission.
Both Ethiopia Woyanne and Uganda said they would investigate the claims if provided with evidence.
An AU official said he had no information confirming the allegations against its troops but promised an investigation.
“We are going to analyse the report in detail,” El Ghassim Wane, head of the AU’s conflict management division, told Reuters. “We are requesting AMISOM to carry out an investigation.”
Last week, Ethiopian Prime Minister dictator Meles Zenawi said his troops would remain in Somalia until “jihadists” were defeated.
The United States, whose main ally in the region is Addis Ababa Woyanne, says some of the Islamist-led insurgents have links to terrorist organisations.
(By Tsegaye Taddesse. Additional reporting by Frank Nyakairu in Kampala; Writing by Jack Kimball; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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FORUM | 3 Comments
Both Melles and Museveni are modern day slaves of the US state department, thoroughly corrupt and certified merchants of death, the weapons and ammunition they are selling to the discretited war lords of Somalia are part of their mission ordered by their master. These weapons and ammunition are designed to keep Somalis killing each other, thus providing the reason for intervention and keeping the Somali people enslaved forever. The ARS knows this and are taking the weapons and ammunition from the discredited war lords and using it to kill and maim the Woyanne and Museveni mercernaries.
History will hold these modern day slaves accountable for the crimes against humanity they are commiting on behalf of their masters. The Ethiopian people should wise and learn from the Somali experience before it is too late. The Somalis will kick Woyanne and thier allies out of Somalia in due time. When that happens and Woyanne is back to Ethiopia proper they have a plan to balkanize Ethiopia, what is happening in Somalia today will look like child’s play compared to what is about to happen in Ethiopia. If Ethiopians keep procrastinating and living in the past they will find themselves in a civil war that will have no end in sight. What is hapenning in Somalia today is what the Woyanne’s have as plan B for Ethiopia. Time to wake and learn a lesson my Ethiopian brothers and sisters.
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May 24th, 2008 at 1:45 PM
The Sadest part is when u see these power hungry presedents sale their soul after spending years in the bushes in the name of liberating their respective peoples. Now, they have done more damage to the people of Africa, both have arrested, murdered, stole elections.
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May 24th, 2008 at 6:35 PM
Who expects TPLF people to tell the truth? They have been lying to the Ethiopian people and the whole world for the last 17 years. Over the years, Meles has been denying solid facts without blinking.
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May 25th, 2008 at 9:53 AM